Monday, 20 May 2013

A Weekend in The Big Smoke!

So there was this waloppa of a party on Saturday night in the city for Kidspot Voices of 2013, which I was lucky enough to score an invite to. That photo above, that's me attempting to make myself look half decent for the event, but I'll tell you more about the actual event tomorrow.

The hubby and I, we don't get out on our own much because we always feel bad about leaving the squids behind. They are however starting to get to an age where sleepovers have HUGE appeal and we have just discovered that quite possibly we can use this to our advantage - with the help of some very gracious friends of course.

So when we discovered we had an excuse to go out for the night, we deposited children with friends and did the Harry Holt with it all the way to the big smoke, Sydney City, before anything caused us to change our minds.

We booked ourselves into an apartment in Potts Point (aka one street back from the main strip in Kings Cross) and after the party was over I met up with Carl and we made a night of it.

For those of you who haven't been here, Sydney is quite the lady at the best of times, but at nighttime she really comes alive and let's her hair down.

Being a suburban coastal girl I get such a thrill out of the noise and the people and the lights of big cities and I felt like a wide eyed kid as we wandered around taking in the sights.

We used to hang out in the city a lot "in the olden days" as our boys so kindly put it, but these days we feel a little bit 'fish out of water' if we are there when the lights go down. It could have something to do with the fact that I wanted to run around to all the girls in their tiny skirts and bikini like tops and wrap them up in big warm blankets, or it could just be that I am getting older and don't get out much.

Whatever.

We felt more comfortable and at ease when morning came and we could go exploring and filling our bellies with food and coffee from the gorgeous ambient cafes that are like EVERYWHERE around these parts.

We finally settled on a cosy little cafe in the back of Paddington and in the photo below where I am sans makeup, puffy eyed and looking a little (a lot) worse for wear, you will see I am slightly hungover from all the champagne I consumed the night before.

Actually I wasn't really badly hungover at all, I was just sleep deprived and unfortunately not the good kind of sleep deprived. It was more the 'we discovered a little too late that having an apartment right in the middle of the action generally means you will be kept awake all night from the sirens, shouting, music and traffic' kind of sleep deprived.

But despite the chaos and the lack of sleep, it was fun to get away for the weekend. And more than that, it was just so damn good to spend some time by myself with the hubby - even if he did get stuck in a lift by himself for 20 minutes.

Dare I say it almost felt like we were back in the "olden days" when we were young and carefree.

Nah I don't dare - Olden Days are for old people.

Of course I had my camera with me, but I was too busy staring at everything in awe in the evening to take any photos. But come the morning, I was busy snapping away.